Peace and its many aspects

I was just thinking whether, overall, 2010 was a good year for peace (understood broadly) or not. Of course, the answer to this sort of question is going to be heavily influenced by whether one is a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person. Personally, at least in regard to peace, I am the former; though, hopefully, in a realistic way. In other words, while I think that events during the last year have moved us closer to peace, the damage done (in human and material terms) has at times been so dreadful that I honestly think the “glass” should have been completely full a long time ago (really). However, let’s consider one or two things, and maybe you can add some more (hint, hint…this blog does have a “comments” function, after all).

1. World financial chaos seems to be moving governments toward more global governance in this area. “Oh no!” some of you are saying; but frankly global problems do really require global solutions, and money is definitely a global problem (though at times it seems pretty “local” to many of us, I know). How is this related to peace? Well, historically countries in financial difficulty have used war, one way or another, to try to get out of depressions, etc… By the way, this seems at times to work, but probably only because the “war effort” gives the government a really good reason to inject a lot of money into the economy (ie preparing for war), and that gets things going (think World War II in America). Also, according to the “spill over” theory of integration, as governments learn to work together in one area they can take that experience and apply it to others (where needed).

2. Violent conflict is becoming increasingly intolerable to people in general. We used to be fairly indifferent to what happened to people “far away about whom we know nothing”. We might still be that way, but with current media it is hard to think of anybody as really far away, and we won’t remain ignorant about them for very long once the media turns its penetrating (but probably somewhat distorting) vision upon them. And while we still experience “us and them”, I think global culture is “homogenizing” humans to some extent: we are starting to see that “they” are not always so very different from “us”. To invoke the old saw: when they are cut (or hit by a bomb, or whatever) do they not bleed. In short, we are starting to see that we are all in this thing together. Or, at least, more and more of us are–whether we like it or not–starting to see and, more importantly, to feel this.

OK…that’s for starters. I guess I have time to add a few more before the New Year comes and goes and fades out of sight.